City, Pa. Settle On Fish Kill Bethlehem To Pay $20,000

February 14, 1995|by THOMAS KUPPER, The Morning Call

A top Bethlehem official said yesterday that the city is ready to accept a $20,000 state fine to settle allegations that discharge from the city's new water filtration plant killed virtually all aquatic life in a three-mile stretch of the Hokendauqua Creek.

Public Works Director Wendell Sherman said the city will not admit responsibility for last October's fish kill, though he acknowledged that workers released water that was supposed to be dechlorinated into the creek in the days before the kill.

"There is no admission of guilt, but something happened," Sherman said. "What it was is still up to speculation."

The fine is part of an agreement the city negotiated over the last several months with the state Department of Environmental Resources and the state Fish and Boat Commission. Both DER and City Council have yet to approve the agreement.

In addition, the city still has to resolve a dispute over who should pay. Sherman said the city hopes to get the money from contractor PKF-Mark III, which was putting the final touches on the plant in Lehigh Township when the kill happened.

The fish kill annihilated aquatic life from Kreidersville Road in Allen Township to the creek's meeting point with the Lehigh River in Northampton. Lappawinzo Fish and Game Club President Andrew Hensel said as many as 99 percent of the fish were dead.

Sherman explained that the kill happened just after the city flushed superchlorinated water through the filtration plant to disinfect the plant's systems. The water was supposed to be dechlorinated after the procedure.

Though it's illegal to discharge chlorinated water into streams, the DER gave the city permission to discharge the dechlorinated water into the creek. Sherman said he still doesn't know if the dechlorination system left too much chlorine in the water.

Sherman said the DER also questioned a discharge of water into the creek that happened in August but decided not to impose fines. That water had traces of chlorine in it but did not cause noticeable damage in the creek, he said.

The creek is home to warm water species such as minnows, carp and trout. Investigators said in October that conditions as subtle as a change in water temperature could disrupt the creek's food chain and cause a fish kill.

DER spokesman Mark Carmon declined to discuss details of the agreement. He said the agency's lawyers had sent a draft agreement to the city but had not received an official response.

Sherman said the agreement was based on circumstantial evidence, and he said the city would agree to the fine to avoid a lengthy dispute. He said no direct evidence proved the city was responsible for the kill.

"There were no biopsies of the fish or anything," he said. "Nobody determined anything definite."

Creek neighbors discovered the dead fish the first week in October, and speculation about the city's responsibility spread quickly. There is a discharge pipe from the city's water line near Kreidersville Road, where the kill appeared to begin.

The contractor finished work on the $20 million water filtration plant shortly after the fish kill, and the city closed the discharge pipe into the creek and connected the plant into the water system.

Under the agreement Sherman outlined, the city would pay $20,000 in civil fines and the Fish Commission would agree not to pursue criminal charges. He said the maximum penalties the city faced included fines up to $100,000 and jail time for some officials.

City Council's public works committee will consider the agreement at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at City Hall.